The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Virtually every major grocery store and butcher shop has one or more industrial grade cutting saws for butchering and quartering large animals such as cows and hogs. These meat and bone saws are typically specially constructed band saws having a plurality of access ports through which the components can be thoroughly rinsed and cleaned before/after usage.
As will be known to those of skill in the art, band saws include two spaced-apart wheels, a blade tightly looped around the wheels, a motor for actuating the wheels, and a cutting table. The blade is made from a band of metal with teeth on one edge of the band. During operation, the blade moves around the spinning wheels and cuts meat that is fed along the cutting table.
Owing to the irregular shape and size of meat that is cut by such saws, previous attempts to provide a functional blade guard/cover for use during device operation have been met with minimal success. As such, a significant portion of the blade located above the cutting table remains exposed to the operator when using the saw. This arrangement has resulted in several deaths, and a countless number of serious injuries to workers, making operation of these saws one of the most dangerous jobs in the grocery industry.
When questioned about such injuries, workers often state that they were not able to see the moving saw blade when they were cutting the meat, as the gray color of the blade blends with the gray color of the machine. Additionally, as the meat is manually fed to the saw blade, the workers attention is typically focused on the piece of meat itself, and do not have a visual reference as to the proximity of their hands to the moving saw blade.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a safety device for new and existing saws that can illuminate the spinning blade, so as to provide a visual indication to workers of where the blade is at all times, therefore reducing the number of instances described above.